No one wanted to play, but England helped deliver ...
Get the Sports newsletter
Daily sports — scores, transfers, the storylines from the leagues you actually follow. Free.
- England demolished France 6-4 in the World Cup third-place playoff in Miami Gardens, with goals from Declan Rice (3 minutes), Ezri Konsa, a Bukayo Saka hat trick, and a dazzling solo effort from Jude Bellingham off the bench.
- Thomas Tuchel was jeered during team announcements but ended the night as England's most successful World Cup manager in 60 years, calling the bronze 'the best World Cup on foreign soil' and urging critics to 'react on the pitch.'
- France trailed 4-0 at halftime in what the source called a 'farcial' first-half display before Kylian Mbappé led a second-half rally that pulled them within one goal at 4-3 and again at 5-4.
- Didier Deschamps managed France for the final time after 14 years in charge, sparking the comeback with four halftime substitutions that finally got his side playing 'like a World Cup game.'
- The match produced 38 total shots (19 each) and 20 on target in what the source called 'PlayStation football on the easiest setting' — nobody defending, everybody attacking.
- England built a 4-0 lead but dropped deep in the second half, nearly blowing the advantage before Bellingham's 79th-minute introduction helped stem the tide and set up Saka's hat-trick goal.
Why it matters: England's bronze is their deepest World Cup run since winning the tournament in 1966, and it gives Tuchel tangible cover against the criticism that followed the semifinal loss to Argentina — but the source's own 'cynical view' flags that England only attacked with this ruthlessness once the pressure was off, a question that will follow Tuchel into the next cycle.
